Many individuals, particularly military and security personnel but also ordinary citizens, may find themselves in situations in which they are forced to rapidly deal with an armed assailant or a general potential for violence. In such circumstances, it is desirable to have access to a suitable weapon which can be swiftly utilized to dispel the assailant and to safely avert or handle the violent situation while minimizing potential injury or harm to oneself and to associates and innocent bystanders. However, if the assailant is aware of the presence of the weapon, he may choose to retaliate in a more violent manner than he otherwise would, or attempt to obtain or immobilize the weapon before initiating his attack, thereby leaving the individual in a more precarious and possibly defenseless position. Furthermore, the individual may find himself situated in a particular location, such as a privately secured property, in which the carrying of weapons is disallowed or discouraged, and so it is desirable to conceal the presence of a carried weapon in such scenarios.
Various techniques are applied for concealing weapons in a manner which leaves them accessible for swift deployment, and various products and accessories have been developed for such purposes. For example, a weapon may be inserted or otherwise secured to a garment in such a manner that it is not clearly visible to others, such as carrying a gun in a holster located behind a lower pant leg. A jacket or coat may include an inner lining which is adapted to hide a knife or other small-sized weapon. Other garments and articles of clothing, such as belts, vests, pants, shoes, and the like are known in the art to be adapted in such a manner as to be able to incorporate various types of weapons and self-defense tools for the person who wears them. However, these techniques may not provide absolute concealment, and also run the risk of detection by metal detectors or similar devices adapted to detect the presence of weaponry. Furthermore, access to the weapon may be relatively cumbersome and time-consuming, diminishing valuable response time while the individual is attempting to retrieve the weapon.
U.K. Patent Application No. 2,430,480 to Raffles-Taylor, entitled “A personal defence aid”, is directed to an assembly for personal defensive use by police or other security personnel. The assembly includes a concaved circular stainless steel disc that is inserted into the crown of a cap, enabling the cap to be held as a shield in the event of a knife attack. The disc may be covered on the inside concave with vinyl-backed fabric. A strip of nylon webbing may be stretched across the concaved side to form a hand-grip. There may be notches in the side of the disc to prevent sideways movement of the nylon webbing. The disc may be inserted into a cap via an insertion tool, used similar to a shoe horn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,230 to Chovaniec, entitled “Belt for a concealed quick-draw knife”, discloses a belt having a holster that serves to conceal and engage a knife. The holster is formed with a first curvature while the knife is formed with a second and different curvature (e.g., slightly more acute or accentuate), such that the knife is securely held within the holster by frictional contact, allowing quick and simple withdrawal of the knife from the holster. The belt may include a buckle for buckling the belt together (e.g., a hook), where the buckle is coupled to only to the holster and does not attach or interfere with the knife, allowing the weapon to be withdrawn without having to unbuckle or otherwise manipulate the belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,362 to Prentice, entitled “Hidden belt weapon”, is directed to a weapon that is hidden in a supporting belt and can be detached from the belt by a twisting motion and deploys into a throwing-star/“ninja-star” configuration. The weapon includes front and back covers, and a central rotating member mounted within the back cover. A plurality of knife blades (preferably four) are rotatably attached to the central rotating member via respective blade deployment pins. The rotating member and knife blades are concealed by the cover when in a collapsed state, allowing the weapon to be carried over a belt buckle. By grasping and twisting the cover, the blades deploy to an extended position with the blade tips exterior to the cover, while releasing the cover from a securing attachment shaft.
Additional articles of clothing adapted for concealing weapons can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,237 to Bennett, entitled “Weapon concealment system”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,631,368 to Samson, entitled “Combined concealed carry holster undergarment and outergarment with quick release and quick access mechanisms”; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0107113 to Mansfield Jr., entitled “Karate cap”.